Current Brightest Binocular Comet and Upcoming Solar Eclipse

© 1999 by Linda Moulton Howe

June 15, 1999 Cambridge, Massachusetts ­ A comet discovered on April 16th in the Southern Hemisphere is now moving further north towards the Constellation of Cancer. It's not visible to the naked eye, but it is the brightest comet for binocular viewing out of nearly sixty now being tracked by Harvard University's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. The icy ball is called "Comet C/1999 H1-Lee" after its accidental discovery by astronomer Steven Lee who works at the Anglo Australian Observatory in New South Wales.